What is the social gospel?

Second, His death and resurrection (verses 1 and 4) are its foundation and "our sins" are in view, not our trials, nor our troubles, nor the injustices of our social systems, or any other of the thousand and one minor ailments that afflict sinful men. The so-called "social gospel" is just another of those "other gospels" which are NOT another real gospel but a spurious deceit.

But this prayer had in view the end that their hearts might be established unblamable in holiness at the coming of the Lord Jesus. The end of all mere social gospels is more comfortable circumstances on earth, but the apostle looks for holiness completely without blame at the coming of the Lord. The believer's present character, therefore, is to be formed by this pure anticipation. However, let us observe here that it is His coming "with all His saints," that is, when manifested in glory at the end of the tribulation period. Certainly the Church will have been taken to heaven before this, or they could not come with Him. But it is not the rapture of which he speaks here. Rather, it is the day when all creation shall be witness to the unblamable holiness of saints who have on earth "suffered with Christ," despised, blamed, rejected. What a difference then! But such training now is in view of so incomparable an end.

Though Laodicea thought itself rich and in need of nothing, they did not have this white raiment which alone could cover the shame of their nakedness. They were clothing themselves with works, seeking like Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness with fig leave aprons of their own making. But the Lord saw them naked and seeks to arouse their conscience as to this that they might receive from Him the white raiment they needed. What a word for Christendom today so busy with a social gospel of works for the betterment and improvement of man in the flesh, and rejecting the Gospel of salvation by the blood of Christ and regeneration by the Spirit of God! God sees all such in the shame of the nakedness of sinful man with no covering in His holy presence, just as it was with our first parents after the fall in Eden . But the eyes of the Church of Laodicea, and of religious man today, are blinded with self-conceit and cannot discern its nakedness and need of divine clothing. So the Lord speaks of the third need of having their eyes anointed with eye salve that they might see. This is the spiritual discernment which comes from the "unction from the Holy One," "the anointing which ye have received from him" (1 John 2:20,27). It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that alone can take away the blindness of nature and give one true, spiritual sight. The vision of the Spirit of God is needed, first of all, as to one's own natural condition, and then as to God and His truth. In this Laodicean period there is boasting in the abilities of the human mind and its competency to judge things, but the need of being born again by the Spirit of God and having spiritual vision by the Spirit is ignored, so there is the blindness of nature amidst all the religious pretensions. The Lord gives this anointing of the Spirit to those who come to Him in true faith as needy sinners, poor, naked and blind.

He told us the next evening that God was very good to him, for He had found suitable work early in the day, and at this he stuck well, and soon showed the result of his conversion in a decidedly changed appearance. Some time afterwards a friend of ours met him, but did not at first recognize him, so altered was he from the dissipated wreck that he was when first we made his acquaintance. “You see,” he explained to our friend, “when the Lord took me in hand He made a good job of me. He not only saved my soul, but He washed and brushed me up.” We were very glad to know that he had been washed and brushed up; we should not have believed in the reality of has conversion if these things had not accompanied it, but that was not the end that the Lord had in view when He took him in hand. God does not save men to make their lives more respectable, or their homes happier, though these things will surely be amongst the results produced by His grace wherever it is received, for the grace of God which brings salvation teaches men how to behave; but that is not the great end that He has in view when He saves them. He saves them that they might be a people separated from the world and ready for the coming again of Christ, that they might, as the Scripture says, “serve the living and true God; and wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Thess. 1:9-10). The main purpose of the gospel is to gather out of this world a people for Christ, who in self-forgetful devotion to Him shall earnestly look for His coming again.

If the gospel does not separate those who receive it from the world and make Christ supreme in affections it has failed in its present great purpose. We feel that we must press this upon our readers, for so many earnest Christians seem to have got the notion that the gospel is a philanthropic scheme for the betterment of the world, and for the uplifting of humanity. They make the benefit of men their sole object, and the glory of Christ is thereby obscured, and this, we believe, is a snare of the devil.

In our days more than ever before we notice an astonishing misuse of the sermon on the mount. The saddest of all is that many preachers of various evangelical denominations fall back upon it as the most important document of Christendom; for them it seems to become more and more the Gospel, and the consequences are that we hear in our times more ethical preaching, more about becoming better, doing good, improving your better self, etc., than ever before. It would require much time and a great deal of space to show up all the errors which are springing from this application. It is the Gospel of works and of evolution. And as this is done there is less preaching of the utter corruption of man, his lost condition and utter helplessness to be righteous (that which the discourse makes very clear), and the salvation of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, the absolute necessity of being born again, the reception of eternal life, the new nature. As the teachings of the Epistle to the Romans have been and are being abandoned in Christendom, the false application of the discourse here in Matthew has been taken up. There is therefore a continual increase of teaching about lifting man out of his lost place into a better sphere by means of ethical teachings taken from the sermon on the mount. This is done also under the garb of a social Christianity, union of worshippers (?), the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Not long ago we were told of a reformed rabbi who read in his synagogue on Saturday portions of the sermon on the mount and preached on it to his hearers. This was hailed as a favorable sign of the progress made toward the lifting up of humanity. Surely, if evangelical preachers (in creed at least) continue to progress in this awful direction by substituting ethical teachings for salvation by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and declare, as not a few have done, "the sermon on the mount is a large enough Bible for us," a general apostasy from the faith will soon be reached. There is a lifting up of the sinner from his miserable place into sonship and making him the heir of God, but that is never by the sermon on the mount, by striving to obtain the heavenly righteousness revealed here.

The programme of God for the present time is, "to take out of them [the Gentiles] a people for His name" (Acts 15:14), not to educate nor to legislate the Gentiles into better social schemes. We very much fear that at the present time, even when the Gospel is faithfully and happily preached, there is a tendency to over-stress its social implications, and throw into the background the eternal issues that hang upon its acceptance or its rejection. It is quite true that the evangelical revival in Britain of two hundred years ago led to a considerable betterment in the social conditions of the country, but that was only a by-product of the work. The main result was that many thousands were taken out of the nation for His name, and added to the church; saved from their sins and from an eternity of woe.

Yet in many ways the teaching of the New Testament has been degraded to something merely earthly and social. Instead of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, only charity is preached, and this often with a political flavour. This, however, is not the meaning of the “Sermon on the Mount” or the gospel of the grace of God! On the other hand it is no testimony to the grace and mercy of our God if one thinks that preaching the gospel is the only task of a Christian with regard to the world. As our Lord Himself helped those in their different needs to whom He presented the good tidings, we too can tell our neighbours of Him and at the same time show them the power and blessing of our faith practically.

Dr. Pusey, John Keble and some others of the early movement remained, but Maurice and Kingsley and their disciples now in the ascendant were busily introducing their Liberal Social Gospel with the openly expressed approbation of Dean Stanley; the Evangelicals appeared to have lost their savouring salt and much of their influence; and at the same time the "Brethren" were in the throes of their first great division. Earlier on they had caused dismay in ecclesiastical circles both Established and Dissenting by their rapidly spreading influence, so many of clergy and ministers having joined their ranks. Now considerable confusion prevailed on all sides, and a clear voice was needed to re-affirm the fundamental witness to God's inspiration of the Scriptures, and the true other-worldliness of real Christianity. On the one hand Dr. Pusey quickly sensing the alarming situation bore a very bold witness to both these matters, somewhat weakened, however, by his decided Patristic and Mediaeval leanings. Of these Mr. Kelly himself may be cited as being one of these scholarly voices then raised respecting these matters in the early fifties of the 19th century. (See Introduction to W. Kelly "Lectures Introductory to the Minor Prophets).

Socialists have attempted to enlist the "Sermon on the Mount" in the service of their nostrums. But, to speak only of Property: Christ's words as to sacrifice suppose individual ownership. "Christian Socialism" was a plank in Bishop Westcott's platform: in his "Social Aspects of Christianity" he speaks of the saving, not only of men, but of the world (p. 86). Again, the Bishop of Truro (Dr. Stubbs), in his "Vox Clamantium," would make the object of the Church the reorganization of society (p. 355). For healthier teaching, see D. M. Panton, "Socialism and the Sermon on the Mount."

Now these "dreamers" referred to, lived in the imagination of their own hearts, and the New Testament is used to help these men very much indeed. When the New Testament is taken up by the natural mind, they proclaim what is called Christian Socialism, which sets up a standard of the gospel and dictates to everybody. You have no right to this large property! You have no right to these privileges that you assume! I am as good as you, and better too! This is the style these men take up with regard to the New Testament, thereby entirely twisting the word in order to gain advantages to themselves and to deny all the truth. It is really dreaming about what ought to be, according to their mind, and to claim everything that they covet from those that are in a dignified position in the world — "likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities." They defile the flesh by what they convert scripture to. They consider themselves the equals of all, and not only so, but speak evil of dignities, so that there is evidently no fear of God before their eyes at all. And this shows that there is something very lamentable in the perversion of the gospel, the perversion of the New Testament. It is their own bad and selfish purpose that causes them to do this. The whole principle of the New Testament is this: what those that are of Christ do. Well, they feel according to Christ. What is that? Why, it is the principle of love that gives, that does not seek its own. Do you think these kind of men have any idea of giving? They only talk about other people giving. So this is all dreaming, as it is called here. Very justly Jude launches out into these strong terms, "Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities."